Fire at a coal mine

Victorian illustration to download showing a picture of a fire disaster at a coal mine. A large cloud of smoke rises from the colliery buildings. Groups of miners and miners’ families gather among the wagons and piles of pit props, waiting to hear any news. In the foreground a distraught miner’s wife and her child run towards the colliery. This is a depiction of the fire at Page Bank colliery near Durham in 1858. A fire broke out in the shaft, so fierce that those on the surface could not get down to rescue the miners. There were 86 men and boys in the pit at the time, of whom 76 were eventually brought up alive. Of the 10 who died, 5 were boys under 16 years old.